A scout group has said it has been left frustrated and angry after it was targeted by thieves for the second time in less than a year.

First Aylsham Scouts have appealed to the public for information after a marquee the group was using to provide shelter during its meetings was stolen over the weekend.

The 6m x 12m marquee was taken sometime between the evening of Saturday, June 26 and the morning of Sunday, June 27 from land next to Woodgate Nursery off Cawston Road, in the village.

The theft is the second time in less than a year that the group has been the victim of a crime and comes after the organisation had a ride-on lawnmower and two trailers stolen in October.

North Norfolk News: John Brown, 1st Aylsham Scout Group and section leaderJohn Brown, 1st Aylsham Scout Group and section leader (Image: John Brown)

John Brown, 1st Aylsham Scout group and section leader said he first became aware the marquee had been stolen on Sunday morning and could not believe the marquee, which the group had been using as a rain shelter during meetings, had been taken.

"It was a proper commercial, bolted together marquee, which had been there for two months, because of Covid, we couldn't meet inside so we had put it up as a rain shelter.

"It was literally just the frame and the roof, it was ground anchored with 12 lines, but they left all of them, they just took the frame and the roof," he said.

Mr Brown said when he found out the marquee had been stolen he was "very, very angry" and frustrated as the theft would not only impact the scout group but the whole community.

"We are volunteers, we volunteer our time, I have a day job and now have to deal with all of this again, it's frustrating. Another group was going to use it, the Roman Project was going to use it, so it's a knock-on effect," he said.

Mr Brown said the marquee would cost around £2,000 - £3,000 to replace and had not been insured because it had been gifted to the group. He said the organisation was looking at the cost of replacing it and securing the site, costs he did not want to come out of the scout groups equipment budget and "affect the kids".

Anyone with any information relating to the theft of the marquee should contact Norfolk Police on 101.


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